1938: Yugoslavia

The momentous changes in the situation in Central Europe brought about by the German occupation of Austria and the partition of Czechoslovakia had their deep influence on Yugoslavia, too. Prime Minister Stoyadinovich had pursued during the preceding years a policy of rapprochement with Germany and Italy, confirming at the same time Yugoslavia's existing amity with France, with the Little Entente and with the Balkan Entente. In January 1938 he visited Germany officially, and later during the year he strengthened the Italian-Yugoslav agreement of March 23, 1937.

The events of 1938 and the fast-declining prestige of France and Great Britain in the Balkans increased the pro-German, pro-Italian course of Yugoslavia's foreign policy. The dismemberment of Czechoslovakia liquidated the Little Entente. With the growing revisionist tendencies in Hungary and Bulgaria, Yugoslavia tried to arrive at better terms with these two countries. The conclusion of a pact of amity with Bulgaria in 1938 marked a turning point in the development of the relations of these two southern Slav nations. The complete political reorientation of Yugoslavia had its repercussion also in the economic field. The barter agreements with Germany brought Yugoslavia, like all the Balkan countries, into closer economic dependence upon Germany.

The internal situation did not improve during 1938. The two outstanding internal problems remained unsolved: the demand of the Croatian people for autonomy and for the transformation of Yugoslavia into a federated state; and the united opposition of all democratic groups against the veiled dictatorship of Stoyadinovitch. For the Yugoslav elections of December 11 all the opposition parties formed a united block, which consisted of the Croatian Peasant Party, formed by their deceased leader Stephan Radich, the Independent Democratic Party of the deceased Serb leader Svetozar Pribichevich, the Serbian Democratic Party, and a number of smaller dissident groups. This time the opposition was joined by the Yugoslav Nationalist Party under the leadership of the two men who had helped King Alexander I to establish his dictatorship, General Peter Zivkovitch and former Prime Minister Bogulyub Yevtitch.

The Government Party of Prime Minister Milan Stoyadinovich was supported only by the few Fascist groups in the country who hoped that the Cabinet, after victorious elections, would press its totalitarian aims. The Government was supported in its propaganda by its insistence upon having chosen the right foreign policy, and by the amelioration of the economic situation of the peasantry. The leader of the Croat people, Vladimir Matchek, made clear before the elections that the Croats would continue to fight for complete autonomy no matter what the outcome of the elections, and would refrain from sending elected delegates to the Parliament until a new federal Yugoslav Constitution had been decided upon.

The elections which under the present Constitution were held by open, not by secret ballot, and under strong Government pressure, resulted, as was to be foreseen under Yugoslav conditions, in a victory for the Government. The Government candidates received a little over a majority of the votes, except in the predominantly Croatian provinces of Croatia and Dalmatia, where the Croatian Peasant Party under Dr. Matchek received about 90 per cent of the votes and was everywhere able to increase, both absolutely and relatively, the number of its voters. But although the elections of December 11 resulted in a Government majority, the publication of the exact figures showed that the Government majority was considerably smaller than at the last election. The party of the Prime Minister, Milan Stoyadinovich, obtained 58.9 per cent of the votes, the Democratic opposition under the leadership of Dr. Matchek 42.21 per cent, whereas the only outright Fascist Party, Zbor, obtained from the whole of Yugoslavia only 30,310 votes, or less than 1 per cent, and will therefore have no seat in the new Parliament. The opposition alleged that in many parts of Serbia the Government victories were produced only by an extreme electoral terror.

There were scenes of great rejoicing after the elections in the Croat capital, Zagreb, and endless demonstrations of loyalty for the Croat leader. As according to Yugoslav electoral law the party winning a majority gets three fifths of all the seats in Parliament, the Government of Dr. Stoyadinovich will be safe in the coming Parliament. But the great triumph of the Croatian Party indicates the continued seriousness of the Croatian discontent with the centralization policy of Belgrade and their insistence upon the introduction of more democracy and of a federal system into Yugoslavia.